Ashes, Ashes
by SuperTeenNewsieAvengerGal
Summary: Lily loved only two things; making money to live, and fire. Yes, fire was her favorite thing in the world. But, can a couple of Newsies make their way into her heart? And can they stop her obsession with fire from hurting herself?
1. Explosions and Clumsiness

**Note: Hello folks! I felt the need to write another Newsies story after getting the movie yesterday for Christmas! Any suggestions, comments, or praise is welcome! Feel free to read my other story as well, called "Miracle and the Brooklyn Bridge".**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Newsies, Kid Blink wouldn't want to spend a night with the mayor's daughter. Cuz he'd be mine. Mush too. :P**

**AND I SUCK AT NEWSIE SLANG. IT IS NOT USED IN THIS STORY.**

**I only own the characters you don't recognize.**

**Chapter One:**

I need a match.

No, I don't smoke. Smoking is bad for your health. I've seen other kids smoke, mostly boys my age, and even some girls. It's nasty.

But what I do is probably just as bad as smoking.

"Excuse me sir? Do you happen to have a spare match? It's cold out here." I asked a man walking down the street. He smiled at me.

"Of course, sweetie. Keep yourself warm." He said, and handed me a couple of matches. I nodded my thanks, and ran down the rest of the street. I sat on the docks of the river. I was on the Manhattan side, and I saw Brooklyn laid out in front of me. I took a small firecracker out of my pocket. This was the best of all of the ones I had. I lit a match, and stared at the fire. It glowed, and grew long. It was a windless day, so it didn't blow out. I brought the fire to the wick of the firecracker, and backed up quickly. It crackled, sparked, and finally exploded into a large orange burst of light. I giggled to myself.

"Fire is good…" I muttered. It was about 8:00 in the morning. The newsboys would soon be up and selling papers. I looked into the old messenger bag at my side. I sold flowers for a living in the spring and summer, and in the winter I sold homemade candles. Life was harsh, especially when people didn't want my ' half dead flowers' or my 'child-made candles'. I had nearly died before, when I was on the brink of starvation.

I looked at the streets. A group of teenage boys started swarming the street, shouting at the top of their lungs. I stood up, and brushed the snow off of my skirt. I began walking back down the street from which I had come, to compete with the shouting boys.

I weaved my way in and out of the now crowded streets. Some of the boys stopped shouting and stared at me, tipping their hats as they did so. Some just kept shouting, and ended up getting whacked on the arm by their more respectable friends. I giggled, and waved at some of them.

I made my way to my usual selling spot; a large crate on the street's corner. I sat on it, and took out my merchandise. Today I was selling candles, considering that it was the beginning of December. Some of them were decorated in red and green, while others were all sorts of colors not related to the holiday season. They were each five cents apiece, more money than people paid for their papers. I continued setting up my candles when someone laid a nickel down next to me.

I looked up and saw a newsie standing there. He smiled at me sweetly, and held out his hand.

"I've seen you 'round here before. What's your name?" he asked. I shook his hand.

"My name's Lily. What's yours?" I asked him. He chuckled.

"You're gonna laugh, but my name's Mush." He told me. I stifled a laugh, only causing him to laugh more. "See? What'd I tell you?"

"It's a good name. But, why?" I asked him.

"Because my friends think I'm a big ol' mushball." He laughed. I smiled, and looked at my candles.

"So, you wanted a candle?" I said. He nodded, and pointed to one that was multiple shades of red. I had used a match to blend the different shades of wax together. I smiled.

"Is it for you?" I questioned him.

"Kind of. It's for our lodging house." He replied. I smiled, and handed him another candle. He looked at it oddly, and asked, "What's this for?"

"It's a gift for you guys. I figured since there's a lot of you, you could use another one." I answered simply. He smiled, and turned around.

"Hey Blink! I got two candles! Kloppman will be so happy!" he shouted as he ran to one of his friends. I giggled, at how child like Mush was. I saw him off in the distance talking to another boy. The boy had dirty-blonde hair, and was maybe five or six inches taller than Mush. Mush pointed to me, and the boy turned around. He had a patch over his left eye. He seemed to be laughing at something Mush said, but once we made eye contact, both of our smiles faded. Mush seemed to notice, and looked in curiosity at his friend. I grabbed my candles, threw them into my bag, and ran for it. There was no way I was facing him again.

I sprinted down the streets, not caring where I was going. I didn't want them to follow me. I turned to see both boys running in my direction, the boy with the eye patch in front of Mush. I ran faster, only to trip and fall over a pile of newspapers on the ground. I flipped over them, and landed in the snow on my back. I grimaced. That was going to leave a mark.


	2. New Faces and a New Home

**Hello again fellow FanFiction-ers! Thank you for reading my first chapter! I appreciate the views, and the reviews! Here's the next chapter, because I know you want more! :P**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies. Which depresses me to great lengths. **

**Chapter 2:**

I sat up. Jeez, you think falling in a pile of snow would be easier on your body. I looked behind me. As I had thought, the two newsies were kneeling behind me.

"Lily? Are you okay?" Mush asked me. I nodded, and both boys looked skeptical.

"Pretty nasty fall you had there." The other boy muttered. I stayed silent, and looked for my bag of candles. I spotted it about four feet away from me, and I began to scoot closer to it. The second I tried a searing pain erupted from my back. The boys saw my pained expression, and Mush grabbed my bag for me. I looked inside, hoping that the candles weren't ruined. Much to my dismay, almost all of them had broken into pieces.

"That's terrible," Mush started to say, but I shrugged my shoulders and attempted to stand up.

"It's no big…" I began saying. But my head felt woozy, and my back hurt. I felt myself falling towards the snow again but this time, a pair of arms caught me.

"I gotcha…" Mush said. He had caught me bridal style, and began walking down the street. The other boy had picked up my bag of broken candles.

"Where…?" I asked.

"We're taking you to the newsboys lodging house. Kloppman will let you stay there for as long as you like." Mush replied. I nodded, and closed my eyes.

I looked up and saw that I was no longer outside. _Where am I?_ I thought.

"Hey, she's awake!" I heard the boy with the eye patch call.

Now I remember.

"Hey Lily, how ya doin?" a voice said to me. I turned my head to the right to see Mush, the boy with the eye patch, and a boy holding a cigar sitting next to me.

"I'm doing fine, Mush. Uh, how long have I been out?" I asked him.

"About four hours. We got scared cause we thought you might've had a concustard or something like that, and sleeping wasn't good."

"But Kloppman said you'se was fine, so we finished selling our papers." The boy with the eye patch finished. An older man walked in.

"Hello there, Lily. Are you feeling any better?" The man asked. He must have been Kloppman.

"Yeah. Thanks, by the way. For letting me stay here." I said. He smiled at me.

"You're quite welcome. And oh," he began. "Any time these boys begin to bug you, you just tell me, okay?"

"Okay." I replied. Kloppman seemed satisfied with my answer, and he left the room. I looked at the boy holding the cigar.

"Excuse me, but I don't believe we've ever met." I said to him. He looked at me like I was an odd creature, but then his so called disgust turned into a warm smile and he held out his hand.

"Racetrack. But most people call me Race for short. Glad to be of your acquaintance." He said in a thick New York accent. I shook his hand, and turned to the boy with the eye patch.

"And, you are?" I asked him. It wasn't like I didn't already know his name.

"Kid Blink. Nice to meet you." He said timidly. He shook my hand, like Race had, but the look he was giving me wasn't as warm and welcoming as Race's. But, I imagine mine wasn't warm and welcoming at the moment either. Mush stood up.

"Alrighty guys, let's let the girl get some more sleep. She's had a long day." He said. Kid Blink stood up immediately and walked out of the room. Mush followed, and after receiving a tip of the hat from Race, the trio was gone.

I turned my head back to its natural position. It was odd, to be part of a group. My family didn't really act like a real family should've, and I never really had any friends before now. But even so, I had a warm, fuzzy feeling inside of my chest, something that I've never felt before. It must've been their acceptance of me.

I heard a knock on my door, causing me to leave my deep thoughts for a while.

"Come in!" I said. A boy peeked his head in. He wore all black, except for a red necktie. His blond hair was slicked back, and he wore a cowboy hat around his neck.

"Somebody told me we had a guest." He said. I smiled.

"Lily. Nice to meet you…"

"Jack. Jack Kelly." He finished for me.

"Nice to meet you Jack." I repeated. There was an awkward moment of silence, and I asked, "Did you…want something?"

"No, just wanted to meet the only girl at the lodging house." He smirked.

"I'm the only girl here?" I asked him. He nodded. "Well, it's a good thing too. This place smells terrible!" I joked. He chuckled, waved goodbye, then left the room.

I stared back up at the ceiling again. I wouldn't mind living here for a while. It didn't actually smell that bad, and the boys were nice. The only problems would be making money, and dealing with Kid Blink.

Oh yeah, and trying not to burn the whole place down too.


	3. Papers and Pasts

**Hello and welcome to Chapter 3! Thank you for coming back, because that must mean you're either bored to death or actually interested! So, I'd like to thank my reviewers, and I'd just like to mention: I AM NOT TELLING YOU WHY LILY DISLIKES KID BLINK UNTIL THE STORY ITSELF EXPLAINS IT. Which might happen in this chapter….maybe….**

**Anyways, thanks again for reading! And just a note; the more reviews I get, the faster I write/upload chapters!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies. Which is good…because it wouldn't be the way it is now…**

I woke up to the sound of boys shouting at each other. _Oh great_. I climbed out of bed, and locked to door, just to make sure no boys would sneak in while I was changing. I took off my old worn clothes, and found an undershirt, a shirt, a pair of knickers, and a pair of suspenders at the end of my bed. I also found a slightly nicer shirt and a long skirt there as well. I decided to wear the first outfit, but I left my hair down. It was long and brown, and usually pretty straight. I found my bag on a small dresser in the corner of the room. I grabbed my lighter out of it, and shoved in it my pocket. My candles were still in the bag, completely ruined, but I decided not to think about that at the moment.

After I washed my face up, I headed into the main room. Boys were scurrying about, getting ready for the day. I spotted the boy named Race leaning against the doorway, apparently the first to be ready of the bunch. He held a cigar in his mouth, and fiddled with it.

"Need a light?" I asked him. He looked at me, and smiled.

"Why would a delicate flower such as yourself have a lighter?" he joked. We laughed, and I lit his cigar. "Thanks, Lily."

"Not a problem." I smiled. I headed to the front desk where Kloppman was writing down records of how much money his Newsies had made. He looked up as I approached him.

"Good morning, Lily. I hope you slept well." He said.

"It was good to have an actual bed to sleep on, thanks." I replied. The old man smiled, and continued with what he was doing. I walked outside, and followed a small group of Newsies who had begun to walk to the Distribution center. Within the group were Race, Mush, Jack, and a couple of other boys I didn't really know. I caught up to them, and Mush smiled upon my arrival.

"Hey Lily, glad to see you outta bed!" Mush exclaimed. He hugged me, and I looked to the other members of the group.

"Mind introducing yourselves?" I asked them. One of them stepped forward. He was shorter than I was, and had darker skin.

"I'm Boots, nice ta meet ya." He said. I smiled.

"My pleasure. And you?" I asked, turning to a boy with glasses.

"Specs. And this here is Dutchy." He said, pointing to a blond boy next to him. I looked to the final boy of the group, who shuffled his feet.

"I'm Skittery." He mumbled.

"Well you've got an interesting set of names, don't you?" I giggled. The boys chuckled as well, but I stopped when Kid Blink joined our group.

"Morning Lily."

"Morning to you too, Blink." I said harshly. But the other boys didn't seem to notice.

"Well, we should probably get going." Jack said. He had managed to already buy his stack of papers. Race headed up to the window next, negotiating a deal with the man that most of the boys called "Weasel". All of the boys went ahead and bought papers, and I received a small stack from Mush, who was my selling partner for the day.

We walked to his usual spot; a lamppost in Central Park. It was nice out today, no snow falling, but plenty of people out and about to enjoy the beautiful park. Mush taught me how to sell papers…well…actually….he tried to teach me. I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed with things like this. So, I stood with him while he sold, sometimes acting like his sister, sometimes like his cousin, or any other relative imaginable. The people roaming about took pity on us, and we sold the papers quickly. Once we had finished, we sat on a nearby bench in the park, watching children ice skate nearby.

"Why don't you like Blink?" he asked me. I looked at him quickly.

"What makes you think I don't like him?" I responded. He smiled.

"Well, your face kinda twists up and you look really mad when you see him. Is that proof?" I looked down at my feet.

"You're right. I don't like Blink. I don't like him at all."

"But why? He's a nice guy, Lily. I swear it on my mother's grave." Mush says honestly. I look him in the eyes. He doesn't know. I bet no one knows who Blink is.

"If I told you why, you wouldn't believe me." And with this, I begin to walk in the direction of the Lodging House. I don't get very far of course, because Mush is following me eagerly.

"Yes I would! Please Lily, just tell me!"

"No." I continue walking, but Mush grabs my wrist. "Mush…"

"If you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't. Not even Kloppman."

"I said no!" I shout at him. I break free of his grasp, and I run as fast as I can, not even caring where I am going. Mush follows me ambitiously, not wanting me to get out of his sight. But I make a sharp turn, and he crashes into a pile of crates. _I'm sorry Mush,_ I think to myself. I keep running, through alleyways, streets, and even abandoned buildings. Eventually, I slow down, and catch my breath. I look at where I ended up.

Of course.

I walk across the snow-covered lawn that marks the cemetery. I have been here often, too often. That is why, without thinking, I ended up here. I walk through the stones that mark loved ones who have passed, most of which are covered with snow. I know where my beloved one is. I see it a couple rows in front of me, a small, simple tombstone with few words on it.

_Jonathan Hayes_

_A beloved brother and friend._

_1880-1896_

I kneel before his tombstone, and begin to cry. I took my lighter out of my pocket, and felt the warmth it gave off. It made me feel safe, having the two things I loved the most. My brother and my lighter. I bowed my head, and for the first time in a while, I prayed. I prayed that I would be able to stay at the Lodging House, even after my rough day with Mush. I heard a shuffling noise from behind me, and I whipped my head around. Mush had found me.

"Is that your brother?" he asked me. I nodded. He sat down next to me, and wiped away my tears. That amount of comfort, even after running away from him and letting him trip and fall over those crates, was astonishing for me. I had never had someone care for me this much since my brother died. I lean against Mush's shoulder, and he strokes my hair, and says comforting words quietly in my ear.

"I miss him, Mush." I whisper. He looks me in the eye now, understandingly.

"I know you do. But how about we do something happier, like, go to Tibby's for lunch?" I sniffle, and nod, and we begin to walk to the restaurant. When we get there, my smile has returned. Mush, even though I've only known him for a day, is the best friend I've ever had.

The rest of the day was good. Tibby's was fun, and we all had some good laughs. I got to know each of the boys a little better; why Race was named Race, why Jack wore his bandana and cowboy hat, and each of them told stories of the great Spot Conlon. As I began to head towards my room, I heard footsteps following me. I turned to see Blink standing before me.

"What do you want?" I snarled.

"I don't want anything. I already got what I wanted." He said with a smirk. I was nearing the end of my fuse, and I didn't want to get kicked out at this time of night.

"Leave me alone, Louis." I slammed my door behind me, and tried to forget about his existence.

But it's awfully hard to forget the boy who killed your only brother, isn't it?


End file.
